Boys' Stories of Their Time in a Residential School

'The Best Years of Our Lives'

Mark Smith

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781138598706
• eBook ISBN: 9780429942143
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Work
• Index: Social Sciences

This book provides rich insights into the pre and post care experiences of boys who were pupils in a residential school where the author worked over the course of the 1980s.

It describes the boys' trajectories through life, as well as detailing the rhythms, rituals, routines, and relationships that existed in the school. While the focus is on the (former) boys' experiences, these are augmented by interview material from staff members, including religious Brothers, who worked in the school.

Together, these different perspectives provide unique insights into an area of social work history that is ill-served by existing accounts, making the book required reading for all scholars and students of social work; social and oral history; narrative sociology; criminology and desistance and social policy.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Endorsements Page
• Half-Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction
• 2 The List D Schools and St Roch’s
• 3 The role of the De La Salle Brothers in the approved and List D Schools
• 4 Positioning myself in St Roch’s
• 5 The backgrounds of the St Roch’s boys
• 6 Education in its widest sense
• 7 A sense of care
• 8 Discipline and abuse
• 9 Moving on and looking back
• 10 The age of mistrust: Changing patterns of care and upbringing in neoliberalism
• 11 Making sense of the narrative gap
• Epilogue: Looking back with sadness and not a little anger
• Index